Dark Side Vanilla Porter | Empyrean Brewing Company

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Notes / Commercial Description:
An infusion of an old-world beer style and contemporary soul. Smooth, dark and roasted with highlights of chocolate, coffee and vanilla. Brewed with American, Canadian and English grown barley, American hops, Madagascar vanilla beans and natural vanilla extract.

Tastes of coffee with faint vanilla accents, cocoa malts, and a bit of raisin.

Feel is the best part, it's so crushable and goes down smooth. This is the porter to drink when you're not thinking about drinking a porter. Still creamy enough to satisfy, but easy enough to not exhaust the palate.

Overall the vanilla porter is a decent beer. I'd have it again, it's a nice sessionable porter.

12 ounce bottle into pint glass, best before 9/2015. Pours lightly hazy very dark brown color with a 1-2 finger dense khaki head with good retention, that reduces to a small cap that lingers. Spotty soapy lacing clings on the glass, with a moderate amount of streaming carbonation retaining the cap. Aromas of milk chocolate, cocoa, coffee, vanilla, toast, brown sugar, brown bread, light dark fruit, and herbal/toasted earthiness. Okay aromas with solid balance and complexity of dark/roast/bready malt, vanilla, and light earthy hop notes; with very poor strength. Taste of milk chocolate, cocoa, coffee, vanilla, toast, brown sugar, brown bread, light dark fruit, and herbal/toasted earthiness. Light herbal/roasted bitterness on the finish; with lingering notes of milk chocolate, cocoa, coffee, vanilla, brown bread, and herbal/toasted earthiness on the finish for a short bit. Good balance, robustness, and complexity of dark/roast/bready malt, vanilla, and light earthy hop flavors; with a good malt/bitterness balanced and zero cloying flavors after the finish. Medium carbonation and body; with a very smooth, fairly creamy/bready, and slightly chalky mouthfeel that is good. Alcohol is very well hidden with zero warming present after the finish. Overall this is was a pretty solid English porter style. All around good complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/roast/bready malt, vanilla, and light earthy hop flavors; and very smooth and easy to drink. The aromas were nearly non existent, but the flavors were well done and pleasantly enjoyable.

A: Brilliant deep dark brown under a 1” light tan foam collar that grips the side of the glass leaving sheets of lace.
S: Chocolate and vanilla, light grains, bread, faint esters.
T: The palate leads with chocolate and vanilla with malt and roast flavors underneath. Medium bitterness finishes things up. The vanilla is light and does not overpower the chocolate or the roast.
M: Very creamy carbonation with a medium to medium full body. There is some light chalkiness on the finish which could be from the added spice.
O: A refreshing, easy to drink porter.